Data storage management is evolving rapidly, and businesses that fail to keep pace risk falling behind on both performance and compliance. Learn more about telecom expense management and how it connects to broader IT infrastructure cost control. Software-defined storage (SDS) has been adopted into the infrastructure of today’s data centers because it delivers fast, flexible storage while reducing costs. To do so, SDS leverages out-of-the-box hardware and provides optimized storage management.
The software-defined storage market continues to grow fast. Enterprise Storage Forum reports a roughly 25.8% compound annual growth rate for global SDS, climbing from $9.4 billion in 2020 to more than $37 billion by 2026. It’s a boon to companies stuck with increasingly complex data storage and management needs, especially as regulatory compliance continues to expand in the years ahead. Below are five key data storage trends — drawn from surveys of IT and business leaders — that you need to know about.
5 Data Storage Trends You Need to Know
These trends share a common thread: strong data storage management is what turns each challenge into an advantage.
1. Performance and Cost Drivers Now Equal
Balancing performance and cost has always been a challenge. However, the new extreme storage performance now available with flash technologies is a game changer. These systems are expensive, costing more than either hybrid or lower-end all-flash arrays. So, IT teams are under increased pressure to provide detailed, accurate cost analyses of high-performance storage upgrades or implementations. The same cost-benefit discipline that governs telecom spend applies here: every performance investment has to earn its place in the budget.
2. Flat IT Headcount a Challenge for Fast-Growing Data
Survey takers said they were most likely to neither increase nor decrease IT headcount. Flat headcount is better news than staff reductions, but failing to bring in new talent during fast-growing data and security trends becomes a challenge — especially when monitoring unauthorized solutions implemented by other departments, also known as Shadow IT, which can dramatically impact performance. Automation helps alleviate some of the stress by simplifying upgrades, introducing dynamic scalability, automating monitoring, and enabling policy-driven storage solutions.
3. Hyperconvergence Is Limited
Hyperconvergence delivers performance and scalability at a reasonable cost. However, one type of infrastructure can’t handle every need, so companies have to make smart decisions on where to put their data center dollars. Managed solutions often fit alongside converged infrastructure, and separating fact from fiction helps — our look at the 5 myths about TEM shows how clearing up misconceptions leads to smarter technology decisions.
4. Flash Adoption Is Steady but HDD Holdouts Loom Large
Hard disk drives’ massive installed base works with everything but the fastest high-performance apps. No one wants to rip out disk-based or hybrid systems without a compelling reason to do so. Flash and SSD remain the choice for transactional systems, while slower, cheaper disk still holds its ground for archival and less demanding workloads. The result is a hybrid reality that good data storage management has to plan around rather than ignore.
5. Cloud Storage Is Eating Up IT Budgets
Cloud storage allows companies to manage data offsite and save on CAPEX and OPEX costs associated with maintaining or expanding physical data centers. But there are additional costs involved in monitoring the cloud storage solution and analyzing bills to make sure no unexpected monthly charges appear as your storage needs grow. This is the same discipline behind avoiding the IT cost management traps that quietly drain budgets — cloud spend needs the same auditing rigor as any other bill.
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New Regulations Reshaping Data Storage Management
New regulations are prompting organizations to pay more attention than ever to the way data is stored. For example, the U.S. has NIST SP 800-171, which impacts non-classified data held by U.S. defense contractors, and the E.U. introduced privacy regulations with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
These rules force companies to implement controls so that they always know precisely where regulated data is stored and who’s looking at it. Data owners have to become good stewards of their data to ensure appropriate protection and reporting. For many organizations, compliance is now one of the strongest drivers of better data storage management, because the cost of getting it wrong is simply too high.
Enterprise Data Storage Challenges Facing IT Teams Today
Survey respondents cited aging equipment and inadequate storage capacity as their major concerns, as both heavily impact business application performance. Among the leading challenges for managing and optimizing an enterprise data storage environment, aging gear topped the list at 18%, followed closely by lack of storage capacity at 17%, and high costs of operation and security or compliance issues at 13%.
Regular technology refreshes upgrade aging storage hardware and software but are often complex and costly. Hidden (dark) data is also at risk during storage moves. Best practices include investing in policy-driven software to locate and move or delete data before retiring old technology for new storage systems.
Despite the temporary pain of refreshes, smart investment in new storage technologies and management automation overcomes obsolete infrastructure, insufficient capacity, high operating costs, and data security issues. Treating enterprise data storage as an ongoing program — not a one-time purchase — is what keeps performance, cost, and compliance in balance over time.
FAQ: Data Storage Management
What is data storage management?
Data storage management is the practice of organizing, provisioning, securing, and optimizing where and how a business stores its data, so performance, cost, and compliance stay under control as data grows.
What are the biggest data storage trends right now?
Flash and cloud adoption, the limits of hyperconvergence, flat IT headcount driving automation, and compliance-driven controls are the trends shaping most IT roadmaps.
How does cloud storage affect IT budgets?
Cloud storage shifts spend from CAPEX to OPEX, but monthly charges can creep up as needs grow — which is why cloud bills need the same auditing rigor as any other recurring cost.
How do regulations like GDPR affect data storage management?
Rules such as GDPR and NIST SP 800-171 require organizations to know exactly where regulated data lives and who accesses it, making tight data storage management a compliance necessity, not just an efficiency goal.
